Reviews of books, manga, anime, tv shows, movies, and webcomics. If it has a plot then I have something to say about it.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

TV Series Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 7)

Wow, sorry this is going up to late folks. As I mentioned on my twitter earlier, I didn't realize until mid-afternoon that I had a mandatory meeting for school right after my anime club and I've been working on papers for school almost all day so I really had no time to do this earlier (also annoyed that said meeting kept me from doing more homework, I sense an oxymoron there). So, in light of my brains being fairly close to mush right now plus this is the final season of Buffy (ie, it's hard to talk about it without comparing it to the other seasons) this one is going to be a bit more informal than the other reviews I've put up lately. Again, sorry about all of this, all I can say is that I really want the next two weeks to be over with asap.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Summary: Things are mostly normal in Sunnydale, or as normal as it gets in that town anyway, but there is a bit of a cause for alarm amongst the scooby gang after the old high school is finally rebuilt (destroyed at the end of season three) in it's former location of right over the hellmouth. Not only that, but the First, said to be the greatest and original evil of them all, seems to be taking an interest in the hellmouth and it may be more than what just one slayer can put an end too.

The Good: Before the season started it was announced that this would be the last season of Buffy (not counting the currently ongoing comic books) so the wrap up to this season also feels like a good wrap up to the story as a whole (much better than the original ending which was the end of the fifth season). Dawn is finally more than a bratty little sister who keeps getting kidnapped (although she isn't nearly as prominent a character as in the previous two seasons), Giles is back for most of the season (it seems like the scriptwriters keep trying to write him out and the fans keep bringing him back) and the solution to the final, climatic fight addresses a problem I've had with Buffy for seven seasons.*

The Bad: Just about every complaint I've voiced about the previous seasons holds true here as well sadly. Buffy is less emo that she's not in a relationship but I really didn't like the undertones that she's not allowed to like both Angel and Spike. It was also surprising to see Williow bounce back so fast after the events of last season and find someone who completely accepts her and the new girl feels less human for it^. Didn't like Andrew at all, really didn't like the episode that he narrated and I felt like, in the end, he could have not been on the show as long as he was and that would have made no difference, characters are supposed to be in a story because they do contribute in some way and he stayed on long past that point.

The Music: The opening song remains untouched (and still highly danecable, wonder if I could find a dance-remix of it on youtube) although the ending sometimes used a different song or two (the ending credits also seemed much shorter than the ones in the previous seasons as well). Again, there were some insert songs (not one every episode, more like one every three or four) but nothing that really caught my ear and how could they? You hear part of a song, once, while you're trying to hear what the characters are saying, I honestly don't know why there are so many insert songs in this show.

The Visuals: This last season is from the early 2000s and wow, what a difference the years make in video technology. The video quality alone proves that this was never a high budget show (especially compared to the video quality of stuff that the BBC puts out these days) but the more dimly lit scenes aren't as grainy as they were in the very first season. The fights still look good but this was never a show I was watching for the visuals.

Whew, I AM DONE WITH THIS, THANK THE POWERS THAT BE! I've been watching this show since last August and, wait, what's this?!? ....craaaaaaaaap, my inner completeist demands I watch this as well, baaaaaaah! Well, Torchwood is actually going to take priority here (there's a new season coming out in July and I'm halfway through season two with all of season three to see) but yes, I'll be intermixing that with Angel (the series) and hopefully I'll wrap that up sometime early fall and who knows what I'll try next!

*If anyone must know, it's the fact that there's one Slayer to protect the entire world and frankly, Buffy has her work cut out for her in Sunnydale. Combine that with the fact that there are other hellmouths (they mention that Cleveland has one and, having lived there, I could believe that, could explain a few things) so making every potential slayer a Slayer made a lot of sense to me. Also, to be completely honest, I have this problem in almost every series that has "a chosen one," this is not a Buffy-specific complaint for once.

^also, oh hello there first lesbian sex scene on tv, just still not a fan of any kind of sex scene regardless of the pairing.